For some people, the night is a cloak, helping them to hide. For others, it's a bright light, exposing things better left unseen. The lives of Cam Gallagher and Nick Hendryx have taken separate courses; their roads will cross and cross again, with increasing threat, in the nights they begin to share. With perfect pacing and keen psychological insight, Bill Pronzini proves yet again that his ability to weave a novel of suspense is unsurpassed. Distinctive, chilling, and with never a false note, he peels away the layers of his characters' lives until they finally stand exposed, with nothing but the night between them.

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Pronzini (A Wasteland of Strangers) appears determined to keep the noir tradition intact. His new novel, about two anguished men whose lives collide violently, could easily have been made into a black-and-white film starring Robert Mitchum, Victor Mature or Dane Clark. Cameron Gallagher has all the trappings of success: a devoted wife, two young daughters and a wine business in Northern California. But Cam is deeply troubled by repressed secrets from his past that threaten to erupt and destroy his life. His depression and alcoholism are exacerbated by recurring nightmares of the night his father murdered his adulterous mother when Cam was a boy, and the stress is beginning to undermine his own marriage. Nick Hendryx's life, on the other hand, has already been ruined, by a hit-and-run accident that put his young wife in a coma. Nick now roams the West, surviving on minimum-wage jobs, showing everyone he encounters a police artist's sketch of the driver. When Nick finds Cam in Paloma, Calif., he begins plotting a slow revenge. Pronzini traces both men's lives in alternating chapters. The prose is workmanlike, but the characters are superb, complex yet appealing. Pronzini pulls readers' strings like the expert he is, keeping them unsure of whose side to take and whom to believe (Cam doesn't remember the accident). This six-time nominee for an Edgar could get a seventh for this highly suspenseful tale. Agent, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

From its suspenseful beginning to its jaw-dropping conclusion, this taut thriller is a fascinating read. Against the rainy setting of Northern California's Russian River, prolific novelist Pronzini (A Wasteland of Strangers, Walker, 1997) builds sympathy for night rider Nick Hendryx, whose comatose wife was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Nick's vengeful search for the man in the police sketch leads him to wine executive and family man Cam Gallagher, tortured by childhood guilt for his mother's death. His drinking and incipient affair turn up the heat. Nick stalks Cam obsessively, but then the intricate yet symmetrical plot shifts subtly, revealing shocking truths. Although Pronzini tends to rely on staccato dialog too often, his descriptive powers are compelling, whether he's conjuring up the urgent desires of love or a ghost house inundated by fast-rising floodwaters "clutching like dead hands." Pronzini created the "Nameless Detective" series, has been nominated for the Edgar Award, and has received two Shamus Awards. Recommended for all suspense collections.AMolly Gorman, San Marino, CA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Most helpful customer reviews

I first encountered this author after a "net buddy" suggested an earlier Pronzini work, 'Blue Lonesome.' I read the novel in one night and was completely spellbound by the story's main character and his search for the truth about a woman he encounters in a San Francisco diner.'Blue Lonesome's' prose had great flow and the character's struggle with many issues really captured me.This book, however, neither drew me in or sustained my interest. True, the parallel stories angle was a good one, but I knew from the get-go who was the bad guy and who was the good guy.Additionally, it seemed pretty easy for me to figure out all the basic plot lines, too, and I think a good mystery writer should make his reader work a bit to find all the threads that hold his tapestry/tale together.I hope the author will do more work and write more quality stories, like 'Blue Lonesome', for I really like his style and his ability to develop interesting characters. He just didn't do it for me in this one.Try 'Blue Lonesome' for a good study in character, choice and chaos.

Nick Hendryx is obsessed with finding the individual who destroyed his life. He holds a police composite of the person whose car hit his beloved spouse Annalisa, leaving her in a coma. Now Nick searches from town to town throughout the West to find the nameless culprit.Anyone living in either Paloma or nearby Los Alegros, California would conclude that Cameron Gallagher lives the perfect life. He loves Hallie, his spouse of thirteen years, and adores his two children. His business is a major success. However, Cam suffers from nightmares, deep depressions, and severe headaches that trace back to when his father killed his mother in a murder-suicide incident when the lad was ten. Twenty-five years later and the full support of his beloved Hallie have not really eased his personal demons.When Nick arrives in Paloma, California, he positively identifies the face in the picture as Cam. Pay back is hell and Nick has waited a long time to attain the vengeance that obsesses his entire life, even if it means destroying his enemy's loved ones as his were destroyed.NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT may be the psychological thriller of the year. The story line is filled with personal demons and twists with nothing turning out as first seen. All this compels the reader to finish the novel in one sitting. Award winning Bill Pronzini brilliantly reveals the inner souls of his two male protagonists as their pasts converge in the night.

One thing for sure---this is not the kind of book to read when you want something light or cheery! Bill Pronzini spins a tale of two men, both of them harboring deep secrets and hurts from their pasts, who will come to meet in an absorbing tale of deception. Pronzini's prose is crisp, terse, and gripping. The characters of Cameron Gallagher, a man haunted by the tragic deaths of his parents, and Nick Hendryx, the husband of a woman comatose from a hit and run accident, are complex and very human. There are times when you're rooting for one character and then find yourself rooting for the other. The supporting characters are interesting too, particularly Cameron's sister, Caitlin, and Cameron's wife, Hallie. Nothing is what it seems as the plot flows effortlessly on, and by the end of the book, you're finding yourself surprised at how the twists work. A deep, dark, unsettling, but excellent read.Michael Butts

Bill Pronzini is a highly prolific author in the mystery genre. IMHO he has not yet received the full recognition he so much deserves. Hopefully this book(as well as his two previous stand alones- Blue Lonesome and A wasteland of Strangers) will change that. Nothing But the Night has a short, simple plot yet so effectively carried out that the book cannot be put down! An alternative point of view adds to the suspense, as well as, the skilled portrayal of characters. I truly feel this is one of the best books written this year and it has my highest recommendations. Larry Gandle

Nothing but the night is a hauntingly beautiful novel. If you love mysteries and are tired of the traditional PI stuff that pervades this genre, then read this book and admire how a master story teller takes you on a pyschological night-ride through the minds of 2 lonely people. Although the ending was not a total shock, we must nevertheless admire the author's skill in reminding us that when all else is gone, in the end we have nothing but the night.

i read this book 2 yrs ago..... it was the best book ive ever read in my whole life... I could not put it down at all...what its basically about:A drunk driver on the way home kills a guys gf/wife, and the guy tries to track him down through the years to take his revenge out. And finally he finds him, he even becomes friends with him, then he tries to kill him, i can remember if he succeds...TRUST ME YOU"LL WANT TO READ THIS BOOK!!!!!